Clock With a Brain (Feb, 1957)

Clock With a Brain

THE world’s most wonderful example of old-fashioned German novelty clockmaking is on display in the tiny shop in Heidelberg where its maker, Michael Waltz, spent 39 years building his masterpiece. Now in the possession of his sons, to whom he imparted the secret of its workings, it is one of the town’s tourist attractions.

Besides the features shown in the pictures, the clock has a night watchman who blows a horn, a cock that crows at dawn. The clock celebrates Christmas, Easter, the ‘seasons, the signs of the Zodiac. Back in the Nazi era Dr. Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda man, asked Waltz to turn the 12 Apostles into 12 Storm Troopers. Waltz said no.